If you’d like a productive, fun way to spend your free time, we REALLY appreciate volunteers at the ENC! Clink on a link below to find a job that fits your expertise.

2014 Volunteer of the Year David Nishioka with ENC Executive Director Bo Glover

2013 Volunteer of the Year Emma Kensington (right) with Education Director Lori Whalen

2012 Volunteer of the Year, Dennis Campbell

2011 Volunteer of the Year Alice Apkarian, Museum Docent

Volunteer of the Year

Volunteers helped start the ENC and they continue to contribute a significant portion of the skills, time and effort required to run the Center. Yearly, since 1999 the ENC has recognized a volunteer who went above and beyond to support the ENC. We are very fortunate to have so many volunteers working with us to help meet our mission to provide quality education through hands-on experience with nature. It is difficult to single out a single person for this honor. We truly appreciate the effort of all of our hard working volunteers. We hope that by choosing one individual, perhaps as a representative of them all, that all of our volunteers see a little of themselves honored. Thank you all for your hard work! Volunteer of the Year roster:

Environmental Nature Center (ENC) volunteer Emma Kensington was awarded the ENC’s 2013 Volunteer of the Year Award. Despite the demands of normal teenage life, the 17-year-old Newport Beach resident volunteered over 300 hours at the ENC over the past three years. Emma began her ENC volunteer career as a Junior Naturalist, helping young Nature Campers to learn and have fun during Nature Camps. She loved it so much that she didn’t want to wait until the next Camp to volunteer again. In 2010 she asked to be trained to be a Museum Docent, and since then she has helped staff the front desk. As the Assistant Camp Director, Emma communicated with campers’ parents, took role, snapped photos and kept the ENC’s social media up to date. She was also responsible for supervising at least 10 other teenagers, making sure that the Junior Naturalist volunteers completed their tasks.